The focus in this harmonious as well as touching film lies on lost souls and incredible actors. The fact that the “Twilight” – star Kristen Stewart strips is at most secondary.

On a business trip Doug (James Gandolfini) meets the young dancer Mallory (Kristen Stewart) in a strip club in New Orleans. The sullen runaway thinks he’s a typical john, however Mallory reminds Doug painfully of his daughter, who died eight years ago in a car accident. A loss with which neither his wife Lois (Melissa Leo) nor he himself were ever able to deal with. Doug decides to stay in New Orleans and take care of Mallory…

Director Jake Scott achieved, (after “Plunkett &MacLeane”) to create a subtle-sentimental Indie-drama, intelligent – narrated in a flowing rhythm and perfectly made. All this with a mind-boggling cast. The chemistry between James Gandolfini (“The Sopranos” “I wanted to play someone who doesn’t kill for once”) and Melissa Leo (“Frozen River”) is unique, harmonious and touching. The both of them together give a very natural, wonderful, authentic couple. That Kristen Stewart not only curses and shows more skin than in the “teen-vampire-saga”, but also succeeds to hold her own next to those two incredible performances, shows the incredible talent this girl possesses and provides an insight into the human soul – in a movie that enthuses till the very end with its intensity.

Translation:

Kristen Stewart: Life after Twilight

Out of the twilight of the teen-vampire-saga, into the twilight of a strip-club: Kristen Stewart fights her image successfully in “Welcome to the Rileys” and proves that she’s a versatile actress with a striking on-screen-presence.

Even if it came to be nearly secondary to her as well as the rest of the world during the last three years of hype about the “Twilight-Saga”: there’s a life after Twilight for the 20 year-old actress. And achieving that is not going to be easy. She is still associated too strongly to the role of Bella Swan – and not only the fans think that way. Even if her role as Mallory in “Welcome to the Rileys” is very clichéd, Kristen Stewart grabs the chance to show off her talent as a versatile young actress and understands the importance of that, “This is for me, personally, the most important role I’ve ever played. No character has ever touched me as much as this one.” Director Jake Scott didn’t hire her because of her role in the “Twilight Saga” either, “I was enraptured by her performance in Sean Penn’s “Into the Wild”. And as soon as she stepped over my threshold, the deal was made for me.” And Stewart didn’t hesitate to accept, “I’ve come to be an actress because of roles like this”, she says. “roles like this one, that are about feelings and with which I can come close to really big actors.” She succeeds to hold her own next to James Gandolfini and Melissa Leo with performance of the cursing, self-destructive Mallory.